Towing apparatus



Oct. 31, 1961 P. D. RowLEY TowING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 14, 1959JNVENTOR. Paul l). Rowley BY/m' /MW ATToraNsv IIA 1 vini/11141 1 UnitedStates Patent Giliee 3,006,309 Patented Oct. 31, 1961 3,006,309 TOWINGAPPARATUS Paul D. Rowley, 3249 Skanders Drive, Flint, Mich. Filed Aug.14, 1959, Ser. No. 833,783 2 Claims. (Cl. 114-235) The present inventionrelates to apparatuses attached to the stern of a boat for towing ortrolling purposes, and more particularly to boat attachments for usewhen water skiing.

Generally, there is provided abracket pivotally mounted on the stern ofa boat for elevating a reel carried by said bracket and upon which a towline is secured and wound, there being a pair of crank arms at oppositeends of the spool of the reel which are constructed in a manner so thateither may be engaged with the spool for manually rotating the same,while the other of said crank arms is employed as a handle for holdingthe reel in the elevated position most convenient for winding the towline thereon. When water skiing it is desirable to have the tow lineattached to the boat as near the water level as is possible. Such lowlattachment of the tow line makes it difticult to wind in the tow lineafter use thereof, lwhich accounts for the provision of the abovementioned bracket structure for elevating the spool and crank arms.

It is laccordingly an object of a novel apparatus of the above indicatedcharacter having a reel capable of assuming a lowered position duringtowing, and -an elevated position during winding of a tow line thereon.

Another object of the invention is to provide, in a device of thecharacter set forth, novel reel rotating and positioning means atopposite ends of said reel wherein either of said means may be used toeither rotate or position the reel.

A further object of the invention is to provide, in a device of thecharacter set forth, novel `additional load carrying means in thesupport of the pivoted bracket when said bracket is ina lowered towingposition.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a towing device of theabove indicated character, which is simple and substantial inconstruction, inexpensive to manufacture, and thoroughly eicient andpractical in use.

Other and further objects of the invention will become apparent from areading of the following specication taken in conjunction with thedrawing, in which:

FIGURE l is -a side elevation of the stern portion of a small boat,showing the improved towing apparatus attached thereto;

FIGURE 2 is a rear view of apparatuses employed;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged plan and sectional v-iew taken substantially online 3-3 of FIGURE 2, and showing a hand holding bar such as used inwater skiing attached to the free end of the towing line;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevation and sectional view taken on line 4-4 ofFIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a still further enlarged fragmentary section taken on line5-5 of FIGURE 4; and

FIGURE 6 is `also a fragmentary section and is taken on line 6-6 ofFIGURE 3.

Referring more specifically to the accompanying drawing, wherein likenumerals designate simil-ar parts throughout the various views, there isindicated by numeral 10 the stern portion of a small boat having theusual transom 11 upon which is clamped in the customary manner anoutboard motor 12.

The improved towing apparatus forming the subject of the presentinvention and generally indicated by the the invention to provide same,showing two towing being rearwardly of and mounted on the transom 11 andin FIGURE 2. as being two in number with one at each side of the motor12. A boltlike member 14 having its head in the form of an elongated lug15 is rigidly secured to the transom by extending the shank portion 16of said bolt-like member through a hole 117 drilled in the transom andthreading a nut 18 on the e `d of said shank portion, there beingwashers 19 on said shank portion at opposite sides of said transom landagainst which the inner end of said elongated lug and nut bear.

The elongation of the lug 15 is in a direction opposite the direction inwhich the shank y16 extends and there are opposite flat sides 19 on saidlug that extend the full Vlength thereof and against which is supporteda pair of forwardly Vdirected legs 20 of a bracket designated generallyby the numeral 21. A bolt 22 extends through aligned Iholes in the endportions of said legs 20 and the lug 15 adjacent to its attachment tothe transom and forms a pivotal connection of said bracket to said lugfor upward and downward swinging movement of said bracket. The bolt 22is of a type that can be easily removed without the use of tools whendetaching the bracket from the lug, there being a small bar 23 pivotedintermediate its ends to the bolt which can be positioned crosswise ofVthe bolt for retention of said bolt or positioned lengthwise of thebolt tor its removal.

Spaced rearwardly of and parallel with the pivot pin 22 is a cross pin24, which has its opposite ends iixed to the legs 20 by welding or thelike, and which extends between and rigidly supports said legs in spacedrelation to one another. There is a notch 25 extending 'downwardly -inthe lug 15 from its upper edge and adjacent its rear end into which thecross pin 24 is received upon lowering of the bracket 21 on its pivotalconnection to a position where the legs 20 thereof are aligned with thelug 15. The notch 25, as shown in FIGURE 4, is of an arcuate shape andhas its opposite sides on substantially true arcs from the center of thepivot pin 22 and is arranged in size and location relative to the crosspin 24 so as to fiorm contact of the lug with the cross pin at leastalong the rear side of the notch 25 and thereby applies =a portion of arearward pull load on the bracket 21 to the lug 15. The cross pin 24engages the bottom of the notch 25 -to limit downward swinging movementof the bracket 21 when the legs 20 of said bracket and lug are 'alignedside by side.

The bracket 21 while being supported and movable as a single unit, isconstructed `from a pair of pieces of ilat stock held together by thecross pin 24 and is angularly bent to `also provide a pair of rearwardlydirected legs 26 that are spaced apart a much greater distance than thepair of forwardly directed legs 20. Between the legs 26 and rotatablymounted thereon is a spool 27 having a spindle 28, a pair of flared enddiscs 29 and a pair of trunnions 30 outwardly of said discs andextending through bearing holes 31 in the rear end portions of the legs26. Nuts 32 threaded on the trunnions 30 and shoulders 33 formed on saidtrunnions, suport therebetween the legs 26 for proper positioning thebearing surfaces on said legs and on said trunnions relative to oneanother. Outwardly of the nuts 32 the trumnons have provided thereonreduced portions 34 that are circular in cross section and largerportions 35, which are square in cross section. In the ends of thetrunnions are tapped holes into which are threaded small bolts 36 thatiirmly support washers 37 of a diameter greater than the cross sectionalsize of the squared portions 35. :It is onto and off of three differentportions 34 and 35 of the trunnions that cranks 38 are mounted and areshiftable between the nuts 32 and washers 37, there being square holes39 in the cranks through which these portions of the trunnumeral 13 isshown as nions extend and which 'are of a size for engaging the largersquared portions 35 so as to rotate the spool upon turning of saidcranks. Thus, it can be seen that either one of the cranks can be usedto rotate the spool while the other off said cranksA is disengaged fromthe spool and is used to hold said spool in an elevatedposition.

An eye bolt 40 connected to the spindle 28 of the spool 27 has an end ofa rope 41 secured through the eye wthereof for winding the rope on thespool upon manual rotation of the spool.` In FIGURE 3 the rope 41 isshown for use in water skiing, there being a oat 42 and a hand bar 43 onits free end. However, it is to be understood that the rope 41 may beused as a tow line for pulling other boats, fishing lines, or otherobjects over and through the water. When the reel is not in use the bolt22 may be easily removed so as to disconnect the bracket 21 from the`lug 15, which remains on the boat and may be used for many otherpurposes.

As previously mentioned, it is desirable when water `skiing to connectthe tow line as low as possible to the boat used to pull the skier overthe water. Because of such low connection it is ditiicult to wind thetow line on the spool after use of said tow line. It is for this reasonthat the bracket 21 is pivotally supported and can be elevated to -aposition more convenient to wind the tow line on the spool. To furtheraid in convenient and ecient operation of the device, the spool can berotated with either hand of the operator while holding the spool ele-Vvated with his other hand.

In view of the foregoing description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, it is believed that a clear understanding of theconstruction, operation and advantages of the improved towing apparatuswill be quite apparent to those skilled in this art. A more detaileddescription is accordingly deemed unnecessary.

It is to be understood, however, that even though there is herein shownyand described a preferred embodiment of the invention, various changesmay be made without departing from the spirit and full intendment of theinvention.

What is claimed is: v n

1. A towing apparatus for attachment to the stern of a boat, saidapparatus comprising a at sided elongated lug rigidly attached to thetransom of the boa-t and projecting rearwardly therefrom, a brackethaving a pair of closely spaced parallel legs extending forwardly alongopposite at sides of said lug and having a pair of greater spaced legsextending rearwardly and beyond said lug, the forward end portions saidlug, a cross pin exa pivot pin extending through of said closely spacedlegs and tending between and rigidly fixed to said closely spaced legsof said bracket, said cross pin being parallel with and rearwardly ofsaid pivot pin, said lug having its upper edge portion notched forreception and bottoming of said cross pin when said bracket is swung onsaid pivot pin to its lowermost position, said notch being of an arcuateshape and having its opposite sides on substantially true arcs from thecenter of the pivot pin and arranged relative to the cross pin so as toform contact of the lug with `the cross pin `at ieast along the rearside of the notch and thereby applying a portion of a rearward pull loadon. the bracket to the lug at such location, `a spool rotatablysupported by and between said greater spaced rearwardly directed legs ofsaid bracket, a tow line having an end thereof iixed to said spool, yanda crank Varm for rotating said spool.

2. A towing apparatus for attachment to the sternl of a boat, saidYapparatus comprising a bracket rearwardly of the boat and pivotallyconnected to the transom thereof for swinging movement from a positiondirected rearwardly of said transom to a position extending rearwardlyand upwardly, said bracket having a pair of rearward spaced legsthereon, a spool having trunnions at opposite ends thereof that extendthrough the rearward end portions of said legs so as to rotatablysupport said spool by and between said spaced legs, each of saidtrunnions having `a reduced cylindrical portion and a noncylindricalportion `of larger size thereon, and a crank arm mounted on each of saidtrunnions by having a hole therein through which a tnlnnion extends,said holes in said crank Karms being of noncylindrical shape similar tothe noncylindrical cross sectional shaped portions of the trunnions,said crank arms being shiftable endwise of said trunnions to positionson and oi of said cylindrical and noncylindrical portions so as torotate said spool with either of said crank arms while holding saidbracket and spool carried thereby in an upward position with the otherof said crank arms.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 930,390Kneisley June 29, 1909 967,601 Bouard Aug. 16, 1910 983,795 YoungrenFeb. 7, 1911 Y 1,362,856 Drake Dec. 21, 1920 2,466,688k Culver Apr. 12,1949 2,551,149 McCampbell May 11, 1951 2,816,310 Nale Dec. 17, 19572,821,726 Correll Feb. 4, 1958 2,915,259 Force Dec. 1, 1959

